Browsing by Author "Tuominen, Sofia"

Objectives. Most sex education related studies prior to this study have focused on describing the current sex education situation from different perspectives, often bringing attention to certain problems. The field of sex educational research has been in need of studies that focus on solving those problems. This study aims to find ways to develop school sex education by defining what sex education should be, how the teaching should be organized, and how it could be developed. Methods. The research approach of this study was qualitative. The data was collected by interviewing eight sex education experts from different backgrounds. The experts were selected due to their sex educational experience that varied from scientific research concerning sex education to decades of sex educational teaching experience. The interviews were transcribed and processed using content analysis. The main subject of the analysis was the information from the experts, not so much the experts themselves. Through content analysis the information was brought to a more general level in a more compact and informative form. Results and conclusions. Increasing and developing school sex education was considered important. Experts wanted to improve the quality of sex education by taking sexuality more into account in the everyday life of schools. The basis of sex education was set on the fact that children have a right to good quality sex education and teachers need professional skills to implement this right. The most important goal of sex education is to raise individuals who are satisfied with their lives and allow the same to others. When this goal is fulfilled can sex education generate positive chance in both personal and community level. The results can be applied to the development of school sex education and used by individual teachers, schools, municipalities and national projects.